How do you test your deep cycle battery?

beeroutlaw

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I have alot of deep cycle batteries sitting around, and had no idea how to see how much capacity they still hold. I made an automated deep cycle tester that drains the battery down to 12V with a 5 amp load, then tells you how many Amp Hour capacity your battery can still hold. Would this be useful to others? Just trying to get some feedback if this is something people would need, what features would be helpful, Mod Edit: Thanks!
 
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gm280

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What you are talking about is a programmable NiCad type battery cycler that is already available. The only difference is the Deep Cycle batteries will charge at a different voltage. But that too can be adjusted I'm sure. Back a few decades ago I actually make a battery cycler circuit that would discharge a battery and keep track of the time and a preset load across the battery so I could determine the amp-hour rating and capacity after it discharged to the level set, it would stop the timer and charge the battery back up again. They are merely battery cyclers. But they worked very well for NiCad batteries. Not so sure lead-acid batteries would be a good idea to cycle though.
 

GA_Boater

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Beer - I hope you are just testing the waters. You know selling isn't allowed in our forums.
 

UncleWillie

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It might be useful in the commercial world.
Someone with a lot of batteries of mixed age might find it useful. Golf Course?
I doubt a retail consumer would be willing to pay $20 to occasionally test a $100 battery that any auto-parts store will test for free.

I find that if I charge up a battery and then let it sit for a few days and it is still above 12.5v, It can be declared Good!
Or just pull the Coil wire and crank the engine. If It will crank for more than 20 seconds, It's Good!
 

bruceb58

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It's actually pretty easy to do. Put a set load on a battery for an hour and pull the load off and measure the voltage. Doesn't really need to be automated.
 

beeroutlaw

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To Moderator: I don't even have anything to sell! :) Just seeing what the boat community needs to see if it's worth my time to pursue the idea.
 

GA_Boater

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Since you are giving them away if you start building them, I'll take two.
 

bruceb58

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Go to kickstarter.com and see if you can get your project funded. Lot's of cool things on there.

They of course make these things already but they are several hundred dollars. I am guessing you made yours with a simple microcontroller, a FET and some power resistors.

I see there is a Beer Outlaw already on Kickstarter. Is that you?
 
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gm280

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These circuits are really not hard to build. I've actually built them before. The only problem with doing this to such a heavy current capable battery is the fact that unless you can seriously load it up to drain the current until discharged, you are going to either build a programmable load or use selectable fixed loads. Either way those loads will have to be able to accommodate lots of heat and dissipate it as well... Otherwise a smaller load will take forever to accomplish the discharge and recharge cycling results... The R/C communities have these listed everywhere and are programmable. But they are for a lot smaller current capability battery types. But the entire concept is already available except for smaller batteries. And the only issue with them would be the loads they apply!
 

UncleWillie

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These circuits are really not hard to build. I've actually built them before. The only problem with doing this to such a heavy current capable battery is the fact that unless you can seriously load it up to drain the current until discharged, you are going to either build a programmable load or use selectable fixed loads. Either way those loads will have to be able to accommodate lots of heat and dissipate it as well... Otherwise a smaller load will take forever to accomplish the discharge and recharge cycling results... The R/C communities have these listed everywhere and are programmable. But they are for a lot smaller current capability battery types. But the entire concept is already available except for smaller batteries. And the only issue with them would be the loads they apply!


The problem in the boating world is meeting the price point for a device that the typical boater would be willing to pay.

The vast majority of batteries get placed in the boat, and remain there unused and frozen for 6+ months,
Water levels are never checked, and it is accepted that they will fail and require replacement every few years. "Why bother testing if I have a 5 year warranty? "
If the batteries were stored in a warm area for the winter and the water level was checked at least once a year they would last at least twice as long.
Many boaters complain of the need to even charge batteries between trips because it is too much trouble.
Volts and Amps are commonly not understood. Explaining Ampere-Hours will be like explaining Differential Calculus.

The boating community is a filtered cross section of the population.
Most of our neighbors think we are rich because we even own a boat.
A small amount of households even have a battery charger, even less will view a Tester as something useful.

An automatic Large Capacity Battery tester will have a limited but real market.
The Retail/Consumer market won't play a large part of it.
Tow-motor and Golf Cart users might be more receptive if it is marked as a device that will save them money instead of costing money.
A $200 tester is a good deal if prevents replacing $1000 of batteries that are actually still good.

Do you see your market a a few hundred units or a few hundred thousand?
 
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beeroutlaw

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bruceb58 - you are spot on with the design. (My full-time job is designing battery test systems for small Lithium batteries) It's simple and can easily accomodate up to a 10A load, which would do a C/20 discharge on a 200Ahr battery. I only discharge the battery to 50% SoC, about 12V to avoid damaging the battery. I spent alot of time looking for a cheap tester to give me Ahr rating of my batteries and couldn't find anything under $500. ...... Yeah, that's me on Kickstarter, I want to do a few more, they are fun :) I guess it wouldn't hurt to just launch this project on there and see if there is any interest.

UncleWillie - I agree 100% with what you are saying. That's why 9/10 people will either say, I don't need one (because they know how to use a voltmeter and do the math), I just buy new batteries every 2 years, etc... I think this would be a good tool for a boat mechanic or golf course mechanic, who has to manage dozens or hundreds of batteries and wants to just walk away and come back to see the test result. I see the market as only a few hundred, not trying to make a life career, just do this on the side to make some gas money.
 
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GA_Boater

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To Moderator: I don't even have anything to sell! :) Just seeing what the boat community needs to see if it's worth my time to pursue the idea.

bruceb58 - you are spot on with the design. (My full-time job is designing battery test systems for small Lithium batteries) It's simple and can easily accomodate up to a 10A load, which would do a C/20 discharge on a 200Ahr battery. I only discharge the battery to 50% SoC, about 12V to avoid damaging the battery. I spent alot of time looking for a cheap tester to give me Ahr rating of my batteries and couldn't find anything under $500. ...... Yeah, that's me on Kickstarter, I want to do a few more, they are fun :) I guess it wouldn't hurt to just launch this project on there and see if there is any interest.

UncleWillie - I agree 100% with what you are saying. That's why 9/10 people will either say, I don't need one (because they know how to use a voltmeter and do the math), I just buy new batteries every 2 years, etc... I think this would be a good tool for a boat mechanic or golf course mechanic, who has to manage dozens or hundreds of batteries and wants to just walk away and come back to see the test result. I see the market as only a few hundred, not trying to make a life career, just do this on the side to make some gas money.

You're on Kickstarter looking for investors and if the Koozies(TM) are an example, investors are "given" product dependent on the amount of the investment. How is this not selling? Do you even have any interest in boating or are you just looking for a potential source of income?
 

bruceb58

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As far I am concerned, he isn't selling. He hasn't even made anything yet. He is just doing research on what the needs are.
 
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